Tarique Shakir-Khalil

Runners Questions

What is your running background? Initially I ran mainly for fitness and speed…and hated it! Ran my first ultra in 2011 and fell in love with running for runnings sake whilst chilling out to make it through the longer distances.

When did you first start running Ultra marathons and why? Comrades in 2011, mainly out of curiosity after encouragement from a Comrades addict!

When or where (at which events) are we most likely to see you? On road and trail from 10k upwards. Usually two big ultras in a year and one fast marathon. Generally with all or part of the family to make abit of a holiday of it.

What are your personal key running achievements to date? Best placings were Comrades silver medal in 2012, marathon pb of 2h48 in Seville in 2013 and 3rd place in 8h35 in my first 100k race in 2015 at Mecleuves. Most exotic race was the Ultra Caballo Blanco in Mexico. 2014 mainly revolved around my first Ironman at Nice.

What was your hardest race experience? Eating the heat (and not much else!) on Day 2 of Marathon des Sables.

What events do you have planned for 2015 up to Spartathlon? Brighton Marathon in April and the 177km Grand Raid Golfe du Morbihan in France in June.

What is your typical race strategy for an ultra? Maintain a constant pace and focus on enjoying it.

What does a typical training week look like? LSD on Saturday/Sunday; 75-120 min easy runs Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; Rest / recovery on Mondays/Fridays. As many hills as possible if there are any wherever I happen to be and the odd hill repeat session if there are hills around on Tursday or Wednesday.

What one tip would you pass onto people running an Ultra marathon for the first time? Make sure you have prepared a decent answer to the question that you will be asking yourself at the toughest part of your race…”why on earth am I doing this?!!!”

Can you tell us one interesting fact about yourself? I wrote this whilst watching Bambi…and enjoying it! Ok I was with one of my three daughters at the time 🙂 I also travel quite abit …45 trips to 20 countries on 4 continents over the last two years. Whilst this presents challenges for training, running does provide an extraordinary way of getting to know lots of new places in record time.

Spartathlon Questions

Have you taken part in the Spartathlon before? Nope.

What are you looking forward to at the Spartathlon race? Everything. Insanity and beyond. Meeting the other runners. Enjoying the landscapes. Lapping up the history. Discovering a new facet of my own character in the depths of the night whilst ascending and descending Mount Parthenio. The incredible release of crossing the finishing line.

What are you not looking forward to during the Spartathlon race? Throwing up! But I know I will feel so much better afterwards 🙂

How will you prepare specifically for the Spartathlon race? Longer LSD mainly. And maybe some innovation on the nutritional strategy.

Will you be bringing any support crew to the race? The plan is that my wife will be on the finishing line with our two youngest girls and maybe a friend may join to support during the race.